BY CHRIS LATHAM
PERTH — The prospects for peace and a united Ireland had been enhanced by the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, Mitchell McLaughlin, national chairperson of the Irish republican party Sinn Fein, told a February 28 public meeting.
McLaughlin focused on the shift in Sinn Fein's orientation to electoral politics, which had begun with Bobby Sands' election to the UK parliament in 1982. McLaughlin argued that this provided an opportunity for the republican movement to break through media censorship of its views and to expose as a lie the claim that republicanism had no popular support in among Catholics in Northern Ireland.
Sinn Fein is now the largest republican party in Northern Ireland, with 22% of the vote in the last election. McLaughlin argued that it was possibility for a united Ireland to be formed in the near future, based on the 4% gap between the combined vote of Sinn Fein and the Catholic-supported Social Democratic Labour Party, on the one hand, and the vote of the Unionist parties, on the other.
In response to questions as to how Sinn Fein would overcome the Unionists' opposition to a united Ireland, McLaughlin stated there were two arguments that Sinn Fein is using to convince Unionists.
The first was that Unionism's position within the UK is declining, with already less than 2% of the votes in the UK parliamentary system. Within a united Ireland, McLaughlin argued, Unionism would already represent 20% of the Irish parliament, which would provide a significant influence on social and economic policy formation.
The second argument was that a united Ireland would be a strong economic unit, reducing the duplication of administrative systems and infrastructure that is required for just 5.25 million people living in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. He also argued that the rapid growth of the south's economy, driven by increased foreign investment, was making the Irish republic "more cosmopolitan" and attractive to Unionists' business. A united Ireland would make it easier and more advantageous to for Unionists to base their businesses in the south.
Neither in his speech nor in response to questions did McLaughlin say anything about the advantages of a united Ireland for the working people of the island.
From Green Left Weekly, March 27, 2002.
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